Trump Falsely Claims Manafort’s Alleged Criminal Conduct Occurred ‘Years Ago’
President Donald Trump took to Twitter this morning to respond to the news that Paul Manafort and Rick Gates surrendered to the FBI by falsely claiming his former campaign chairman’s alleged criminal activity took place “years ago.”
However, the dates listed in Manafort and Gates indictment for conspiring against the US, money laundering, and false statements range from 2006 through 2017 — proving that Trump’s deflection of the latest Robert Mueller investigation bombshell is false.
“Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren’t Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus????? ….Also, there is NO COLLUSION!” Tweeted the president this morning:
Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren’t Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2017
….Also, there is NO COLLUSION!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2017
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin fact-checked the president in real time during a CNN segment on his tweets. “It’s just not true, obviously the president can tweet what he wants but the indictment itself — you don’t have to interpret the indictment you only have to read the indictment to see that it says the conspiracy goes during precisely the time when Manafort and Gates were working for the Trump campaign,” said Toobin.
Adding, “He’s just simply wrong.”
What’s more, a third indictment was revealed Monday morning, against former Trump adviser George Papadopoulos, who plead guilty to lying to the FBI about meetings with Russia nationals in 2016.
Watch above via CNN.
[featured image via screengrab]
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